BILLENIACEJE. 



87 



eacli with a membranous aril,' and containing within its coats 

 the copious flesliy albumen, near the apex of which is a 

 minute dicotyledonous embryo with its radicle inferior (figs. 

 122, 123). 



C. cnneiforniis, like several allied species, is a small Australian 

 shrub bearing simple, alternate, subsessile, exstipuUite leaves, with 

 a gutter-like dilatation above the base. The flowers are solitary 

 and terminate the branches (fig. 115). In some other species the 

 flowers are solitary and imbedded in the centre of a bud, whose 

 leaves pass gradually into the sepals. Sometimes, again, these 

 plants are villous, with narrow leaves and slender branches, and 

 assume the appearance of certain Chenopods or Cistinea." About 

 fifteen species have been counted in Australia;^ all have yellow 

 flowers. There may be tolerably nu- 

 merous variations in the number of 

 stamens,^ carpels,^ and ovules.^ 



The genus Adrastaa^ of which but 

 one species^ is as yet known, a native 

 of New Holland, presents nearly all the 

 external characters of Candollea and 

 Hibbertia, with which genus it has 

 been proposed to unite it.' But on 

 examining its androceum we see (figs. 

 124, 125) that it consists of two whorls of five stamens each ; and what 



Adrastaa salicifoUa. 



Fig. 124. 

 Floriferous branch. 



^ Here tbe aril is a large yellowish sac covering 

 the seed entirely, its margins meeting, or even 

 overlapping. In many species it is smaller ; it 

 does not cover the seed, and is divided near the 

 opening into more or less lacerated lobes. 



" This is especially the case with C. hellanthe- 

 moides TuECZ. (Bull. Soc. Natur. Mosc, xxii. 

 ii. 8). The linear leaves, covered with whitish 

 down, are collected around the flowers to form a 

 sort of involucre. The staminal bundles only 

 bear two or three anthers. The carpels are 

 three in number, each usually containing but one 

 ovule. 



3 Steudei, pi. Preiss., i. 273 ; ii. 236. — 

 F. MuELL., Fragm. Phyt. Austr., ii. 2; iv. IIG ; 

 Plants of Victoria, i. 13.— Bentu., op. cit., 

 41-46. 



•* In each bundle the number of anthers varies 

 from two or three to an indefinite number. The 

 alternipetalous bundles may even be replaced by 

 single stamens. Besides this, single stamens are 



sometimes observed opposite the petals. (B. H., 

 luc. cit.). The pollen grains have three longi- 

 tudinal grooves. 



•'' The two lateral carpels are often wanting. 

 The surface of each is usually glabrous and 

 traversed by a vertical groove along the internal 

 angle. 



® Many species, like C. helianthemoides, 

 C. pachyrldza Benth. {Hibbertia pachi/rhiza 

 Steud.), &c., have but one ascending ovule. 

 More rarely three are observed, of which one is 

 superior and nearly median. 



7 DC, Si/st., i. 424 : Prodr., i. 73.— Endl., 

 Gen., n. 4752.— B. H., Gen., 15, n. 15.— A. 

 Gray, in Amer. Explor. Exped., i. 18. — Benth. 

 & F. Muell., Fl. Austr., i. 46.— H. B>., 

 Adansonia, vi. 279. 



8 A. salicifoUa DC, loc. cit. 



3 Hibbertia salicifoUa F. Muell., Fragm., 

 5. 161. 



